- Any productive soil which will grow ordinary trees may be devoted to coffee culture. The distribution of the rainfall of course is important, and those localities are preferred where the natural rainfall is sufficient, without irrigation, to produce a crop. One of the most important considerations is the temperature. The temperature should never be very low, nor should it be very high. In tropical countries, therefore, the coffee trees are best grown at elevations a considerable distance above the sea, securing a temperature which is not too high. The coffee tree does not grow well by itself in the open, but does best when protected by the shade of other trees, especially during its early growth. There are some localities where the temperature is so modified by altitude and other climatic conditions as to require no shading. The coffee tree is hardly a tree, but rather a bush, both by its nature and by the fact that it is purposely kept rather low to favor picking. The ordinary care which would be given to the apple or orange orchard is necessary for the proper growth and fruiting of the coffee tree. The coffee bush begins to bear at about the same age as the apple tree, from 7 to 10 years after planting. The production per acre of the coffee orchard does not reach in value that of the ordinary orange or lemon crop, but the cost of care and cultivation is usually less.